A communication system includes a collection of components that communicate, manipulate, and process information in a variety of ways. The system may support different access technologies, such as frame relay, circuit services, and new and evolving connection-based or connectionless services, that communicate information, such as data, voice, and video. Switches in the communication system employ hardware and software to route information generated by access technologies to an intended destination. In an integrated services network, switches may route information among access technologies in a unified manner.
With an increasing demand for more sophisticated and higher bandwidth communication, switches in a communication system must be scalable and adaptable to the particular needs of the users. Also, switches should support existing access technologies, and provide a flexible framework for new and evolving services.
Existing switches in an integrated services environment suffer from several disadvantages. Switches fail to be modular and scalable to adapt, for example, to the needs and resources of a small private network serving hundreds of users, as well as a larger public network serving tens of thousands of users. Often, switches only support one or a few number of access technologies and offer limited expansion capabilities. Also, as integrated services networks get larger and more complex, existing switches may fail to provide adequate redundancy and fault isolation.